Mama Ginger was so awesome throughout the entire wedding planning process – she was always supportive of my crazy ideas, gave her feedback when requested, and kept her mouth shut when she knew my mind was made up about something. But she did something in the days before the wedding that I have a hard time looking back on. We need some good, fitting music to go along with this:
She sent me this article. If you’re not up for clicking over there, I’ll summarize:
From late August to early October, male tarantulas(!) take over the city of Pueblo (the nearest town to our wedding) for mating season. There are so many tarantulas(!!), in fact, that their invasion has halted construction projects and sporting events. Here, an excerpt:
“We saw nothing but tarantulas coming down as we’re moving dirt and laying cement, putting up lights, building a field, building a stadium. They’re everywhere,” Sanchez said.
Now, I had been fairly level-headed in the week leading up to the wedding (less the wedding’s eve, of course). But the thought of spiders—tarantulas—scurrying across the aisle, or worse, up the bustle of my gown…I shudder to even think of it.
And so it became a joke among those closest to the festivities. People began telling me tarantulas are good luck – though I later found out all spiders except tarantulas are good luck. They say the larger the spider, the bigger the rewards. Some thought it romantic that the tarantulas would be, um, “intimate” during our wedding, but they must not have known the male spider dies a few weeks after mating. It was decided Uncle D would be in charge of any tarantulatic interruptions during the ceremony, and that was that.
The ceremony went off with nary a spider in sight, much to the relief of everyone in the wedding party. After it was over, the friend who kindly recorded the ceremony for us apologized for missing the first few seconds of the processional. She told me she was barefoot, and had to run and grab her shoes “when the spider was found.” But she was sure she—-wait. Backup. Spider? Spider was found?
It was then I found out a spider had indeed been found. Crawling up the leg of one of my Denver pals:
{guest photo}
I have to give mad credit to Denver pal B. Not only did he refrain from screaming like a girl (as I, and probably the majority of our guests, would have done), but he also let the massive spider chill on his pant leg while another guest scrambled to take a photo.
As any arachnologists out there know, this is not a tarantula – it was, according to most, a wolf spider. A quite large wolf spider. And since it was not a tarantula after all, I guess that means the bigger the rewards?
For the record, I should add that I am not and was not upset with Mama Ginger for sending me the article. But she does have a weird sense of humor, no?
What kind of uninvited guests showed up at your wedding?
Previous Episodes:
- We hugged it out with family and friends.
- We vowed our love and traded rings.
- We were united in wine.
- FIL-Eng performed our ceremony.
- I improvised traditions.
- Step-G spoke.
- I walked the plank.
- Almost time!
- The ladies beautified.
- We rehearsed!
- We unloaded and assembled.
- Someone unplugged the fridge
- The Music Played
- We Honeymooned
